But here and here he seems to be using his sights and seems to be doing somewhat better.

Note how close the targets are when he's shooting without his sights compared to his shooting with his sights.

__________________
"It is long been a principle of ours that one is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in having a gun if you are not capable of using it skillfully." -- Jeff Cooper

Such displays seem impressive, until you consider that likely the shooter has been practicing repeatedly, from a consistent position, against those targets, also in a consistent position. Move the shooter and the targets and see how well he does.

Such displays seem impressive, until you consider that likely the shooter has been practicing repeatedly, from a consistent position, against those targets, also in a consistent position. Move the shooter and the targets and see how well he does.

Good point. Look at the Taran Butler videos again, especially the one in which he's shooting the USPSA course of fire. Notice how quickly he can shoot, even with movement, from varying positions at targets at varying distance, when using his sights. Unsighted fire really has no great speed advantage.

Yes, it takes a lot of practice to shoot that quickly using one's sights. But it also takes a lot of practice to shoot well without the use of sights. Being able to shoot quickly with sights gives one a great deal more flexibility.

A primary use of shooting without sights, from the retention position, is to keep the gun out of reach of the target when the target is close.

__________________
"It is long been a principle of ours that one is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in having a gun if you are not capable of using it skillfully." -- Jeff Cooper

Thanks for the correction.
To my knowledge(articles about Butler himself), he only started target shooting in the late 1990s/early 2000s. He trains a lot & is a sponsored pistol shooter but he shows that with effort & proper technique almost anyone can be a great shooter.

Having the benefit of my own back yard pistol range I've practiced drawing and shooting from the hip a bit. Not a lot, but IME it's not as hard as you'd think. I'd have a hard time hitting a bulls eye, but at 10 yards it's very doable to keep all my shots within a standard silhouette.
I shoot at steel, so I don't like to get much closer than 10yds, but I assume a 12" group at 10yds would translate into a 6" group at 5yds which - while it isn't "good" - isn't terrible. And that's a shooter of moderate ability and maybe 100 rounds of practice.

I don't have one, but a crimson trace might be a good investment to get an idea of where you're aiming without having to shoot. I'm not sure that the laserlyte targets would work all that well for this as they tend to be kind of small, where as a laser sight would show you where you were pointing even if you're way off.
I haven't tried anything more difficult that shooting at static targets, and I imagine it would be trickier, but again it's probably just going to come down to practice..
I don't know how much training would help though. I started noodling around with it after I watched the hip shooting "top shot" episode where the basics were explained, and then it was just a case of lots of practice.

On a pragmatic note since hip shooting tends to involve bending your wrist a lot you probably want to use a revolver, or - if you're using an auto - make sure you're not bending your wrist enough that the slide could come back and bite you.
I've mostly used a ruger 22/45 and not had an issue, but using, say a 1911, might require a little more care.

Even though most of my range time is well placed aimed shots; I have always practiced point shooting rapid fire at close range, as well as shooting with my non dominant hand. A hold over from my military days.

You have a very good and passionate Point Shooting instructor in Arizona named Robin Brown. He teaches the Quick Kill method. AFAIK he doesn't run a shooting school but holds classes here and there whenever there's enough interest.

He frequents the Florida Concealed Carry Forum and goes by the name of "Brownie". You should look him up and send him a PM via that discussion board to learn when he's conducting his next class in your area.

Point shooting is as natural as pointing your index finger at a distance object. You don't have to think about it - you just do it intuitively.

When you throw a baseball, do you aim down your arm?
When you drive your car, do you have to mount a sight on the hood?
(1958 Buicks not included).
It seems the people who criticize instinct or point shooting are the ones who don't know how.
It's just a skill, acquirable by anyone who's willing to put in the effort.
Sure, sighted shooting is bound to be better.
But the sights can't always be seen.
The guy who can carry on without being able to see them is gotta' be better off.

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